"The Moon Goddess gives me a revelation. The end of your growth is near if you keep doing the same thing. Have you explored the actual power behind your destiny?"
Those words kept ringing in Anna's mind as she couldn't help but take another look at her current condition.
"The end of my growth… Is it because I was stuck in the peak Spirit Grandmaster before I died and after reaching that point, I wouldn't know what I should do after that? But I have a few things in my mind. It's true that I haven't experienced the strength of Spirit Transcendence, but it's not at the level I'm clueless about it."
Anna thought that the revelation wasn't that accurate. However, there should be a reason why the Moon Goddess said it that way. After all, she was a Goddess.
When she thought about it, she changed her perspective. "She directly mentioned 'growth' instead of any other words. The reason for my growth…"
When she thought about it, there was only one person that came to her mind. In fact, this might be what the Moon Goddess really wanted to say. That person was Noel.
That was right. In the future, Noel would have unlimited growth. He had two spirits and the size of his reserve would be more than twice of her, considering her assimilation rate wasn't perfect.
Even if she managed to maintain this rate of progress, she was bound to lose sooner or later.
Anna had been too focused on the competition to decide the acting head of the Ardagan Family that would end soon. But with their personality, the competition definitely wouldn't end at that point.
Even if she won, Noel would grow even more and at that time, she wouldn't be able to follow Noel's growth anymore.
When that thought appeared, she felt a part of her heart become empty.
"My growth is going to end soon, huh?" On the one hand, she felt hopeless. On the other hand, she thought there must be another way.
That was when the second part of the message entered the picture.
"Have you explored the actual power behind your destiny?"
Anna looked down for a moment. "Actual power… the power that allows me to regress is Old Ru's power, right? Now that I think about it, what happened to the shell? In my previous life, I didn't see Noel using that shell on me. What was actually the power behind that shell?"
It felt like the matter between her regression was more complicated than she originally thought.
When she thought about it, she recalled a certain scene.
Back then, Old Ru had known about her regression. At that time, she asked if Old Ru was the reason behind her rebirth or not. But Old Ru actually answered her "Yes and no."
However, she only heard about the 'Yes' part as Old Ru mentioned everything about his shell and his power.
She was overwhelmed by the information in the past that she didn't ask why Old Ru wasn't part of her regression.
"The 'NO' part should be related to my latter growth. Right now, it's impossible for me to visit the Old Ru again and ask him about it. He said that the shell was used to protect his grandson and Noel wasn't the type to break the promise.
"The only threat I could think of was the Demon King. No, there was also the rebellion. If Noel and Duke Lorelei met in the past, the duke should have asked Noel to direct his hatred elsewhere. And there was no way Noel would start the rebellion.
"I feel like these three are connected. Wait a minute. These three were just things that happened in the previous life, not the power behind my reincarnation. Time, huh… Is it only time?"
The more Anna thought about it, the more complex it became. There might be a lot of things that ended up causing Noel to choose her.
As long as she couldn't figure out that answer, she might not be able to keep up with Noel.
"If I think about it, there was only one person who knew about my reincarnation at first. It was me. But Old Ru knew about it because his shell disappeared and I was the one approaching Noel. There should be one more person that actually knows about my rebirth… The one who has witnessed everything… from within."
Anna gasped upon the shocking truth. She rushed to her room to enter her consciousness.
She returned to the cliff where the Thunder Berserker Spirit always met her.
"Thunder Berserker Spirit…" Anna sucked a cold breath. If there was anyone else who could know about her reincarnation, it would be the Thunder Berserker Spirit, who had been watching her this whole time.
"Welcome." The Thunder Berserker Spirit remained calm as though he had expected all this. No, it was more accurate that she had been waiting for it.
"The Moon Goddess gave a revelation. When Noel told me that the Moon Goddess was actually a spirit, I couldn't help but wonder how she actually knew. At first, it looked like it was simply because she was a Goddess, but that wasn't all. It was only a suspicion, but if a spirit like the Moon Goddess could know about my regression, then you, who have resided within me, should know about it as well."
The Thunder Berserker Spirit replied, "I can give you a passing grade for it. It seems that you have a lot of questions. Unfortunately, I don't think I can give you all the answers you want. But I will be kind enough to answer three of your questions. So, choose your questions carefully."
"…" Anna fell silent. There were indeed a lot of things that the spirit could clear up, but because of the restrictions, she had to reconsider all her questions.
"First question, do you know everything from the start?"
"Are you sure you want to ask this question?"
"Yes." Anna nodded without hesitation. The first question was meant to confirm everything. The second question was to test the limit and the last question would be the main question.
The spirit acknowledged it without hesitation. "That's right. I know everything."
Anna's heart skipped a beat. It seemed that she had found the right path to her mystery. Then, she asked the second question. "In that case, can you tell me how the Moon Goddess knows about my regression? I don't think it's as simple as the spirits being connected to each other. If you are that connected, does that mean that you are residing inside the bad guys and continue doing bad things.
"It doesn't really match on how the spirits become the savior of the human race and the weapon to fight against the demons. So, I'm afraid that there is a more complex situation among the spirits."
The spirit didn't immediately reply to this question. "All spirits might not be connected to each other. Even if they are connected, they are bound for their purposes. The only thing all spirits have in common is their loyalty to the Spirit God.
"However, what do you think about the origin of the spirits? Do you think they just appear out of nowhere? Or are they born like humans?"
"!!!" Anna didn't miss that last question. "Don't tell me…"
"You could say it that way. The Moon Goddess and the time spirit you are thinking right now is connected. That's your answer."
Anna fell into deep thought. He never thought about it. The spirits had a lot of form, but they eventually reached the humanoid form. There were also beasts like spirits and even one that didn't have a physical body.
She never wondered about the origin of the spirits. Were they born from nothing? This answer explained a lot of things. In fact, there might be another connection that she didn't know among the spirits. And she was also curious about the purposes of each spirit since the only thing the spirit had in common was their loyalty to the Spirit God.
If Old Ru could deduce about her regression just by meeting her, the spirit that gave him that power should have known the consequences of its action.
That explanation gave Anna's decision on the last question.
"Then, my last question… How does the power of time work?"
The Thunder Berserker Spirit raised his eyebrows but soon smiled. "The time can't be revealed. It's not because I don't want to say it, I can't. However, I can give you a little analogy."
The spirit raised his hand and created multiple lightning that remained static on top of his palm.
"You can consider these ten lightning trails to be your destined future. Let's say, you are in the middle." The spirit then connected the trails in one way or another. "These are the possibilities and the branches connecting it can push you to a different kind of possibility."
"I'm still confused." Anna tilted her head. The explanation was much harder to digest.
"Let's use another example then. Bring that box to me." The Thunder Berserker pointed at the box behind Anna.
Anna didn't know what he wanted, but she still walked to the box. But when she was about to grab the box, the Thunder Berserker Spirit said, "If you touch that box, your consciousness will return."
"!!!" Anna abruptly stopped, hesitating. When she turned back to the spirit, she noticed that the spirit pointed at the different branch from earlier.
"If you don't bring me that box, you won't get your answer."
Anna's body trembled again. She glanced at the box, wondering if she should take the risk or not. When she was about to make her decision, the spirit pointed at another trail.
"Do you still not get it?" The spirit asked.
"I'm sorry." Anna shook her head helplessly.
The spirit returned to the original trail. "This is your timeline and current destiny. There is supposed to be no box or whatsoever. And because I created that box and asked you to pick it up, you ended up in the destiny where you picked up that box.
"However, your destiny shifted again when you hesitated because of my warning before returning to the previous destiny because I threatened you. These branches that connected one possibility to another is what I've been doing. In other words, your preparation, your action, or even the environment around you can actually shift your destiny. It includes the time artifact."
"!!!" Anna gasped. "Wait a minute. Does that mean that shell is only something that changes my destiny?"
"And there is one more thing you need to know. Time only moves forward."
"Moves forward…" The shock Anna received took her aback. "If time only moves forward, does that mean that I have never regressed? No. Should I say that I'm moving to a different timeline where that timeline is actually me a few years ago? It was perfectly the same as what I experienced, but because of me shifting into that timeline, it started changing."
"Something along those lines." The spirit acknowledged it.
"Then, what about the original timeline? If we're using that theory, doesn't that mean I'm occupying my own body? No. What exactly have I done to my original body? Now that I think about it, because I have the memory and the same reputation, I have never doubted it.
"The only thing I remember is my own memory. If one thing can shift the timeline, does that mean the original Anna Stargaze in this timeline is someone different? While she might be similar to me, she is not entirely the same. In other words, I have never known about the real memory of the real Anna Stargaze…"
Anna gasped in shock. That was right. She had never thought about it. The memory she had actually came from Anna's experience instead of the original owner of this timeline. In other words, she had occupied that person's body.
"What happened to the real owner of this body then?" Anna asked.
"The three questions are up. So, I can't answer that question." The spirit sighed. When she opened his eyes, his focus didn't stay in Anna's disappointed face. Instead, it was the figure behind Anna. "I don't think I have to answer that question though."
